No Explanation Given
'371' Hits Unequal Pay in ACS Unit

By MEREDITH KOLODNER

Local 371 of District Council 37 has filed an unfair labor practice against the city, accusing officials of unilaterally granting a pay increase to a select group of workers while excluding others.

FAYE MOORE: Favoritism or bias?

The Administration for Children's Services has so far hired 272 employees as part of its revamped foster care and preventive services program, dubbed Improved Outcomes for Children. Union officials said that the new hires and some of the incumbent Local 371 members who have been hired were given a pay rate 8 percent above the basic hiring rate. Others are being paid less, and union officials have not been able to get a response from the city about how the salary decisions are being made.

'Work's Same, Pay Isn't'

"You have people doing the same job, sitting side by side, earning different salaries," said Local 371 Vice President Faye Moore. "What makes some people more valuable than others? It could be favoritism or discrimination. We don't know because they haven't talked to us."

ACS officials were not aware of the charge and referred all questions to the city's Office of Labor Relations. "We never comment on outstanding litigation," said Labor Commissioner James F. Hanley.

Union officials cited a case from 2002, Social Service Employees Union vs. the City of New York, as a precedent mandating the city to negotiate merit-based raises with the union. In that case, ACS gave some employees 7-percent raises without notifying the union. Local 371 filed an objection and the Office of Collective Bargaining ruled in the union's favor, affirming wages as a mandatory subject of bargaining.

400 Workers in Limbo

The legal action comes in the midst of negotiations between the city and the union over the planned phase-out of the Office of Case Management and its 650 employees. The first phase of the new foster care system has resulted in the hiring of 272 employees, 207 of whom are Local 371 members. The two sides have worked together to place about 100 additional provisionals in other positions in the agency. But there are still more than 400 members whose future is uncertain. The last bargaining session between the union and the city was Aug. 2.

"We thought we were making progress with the agency; opening up some kind of communication," said Ms. Moore. "When you do this when we're still negotiating, we wonder, who were we talking to when we were talking? That's the part that really will do the most damage to the relationship between the union and the agency."

Union officials had filed four improper practice charges on March 30 after the phase-out of the 650 jobs was first announced without discussions with the union, but they withdrew the charges after ACS agreed to negotiate.

The titles currently in question are Supervisor II and III Social Workers and Community Coordinators.

"Right now, someone they hired off the street is earning more than a permanent civil servant," said Ms. Moore. "This is not the private sector. If you have more money to pay people, let's pay everybody."